Department for Transport

Aviation: South East

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the relationship between additional airport capacity in the South East and the economies of other regions of the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department last updated its forecasts of aviation growth for UK airports, to 2050, in January 2013. The analysis can be downloaded from: www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-aviation-forecasts-2013.   The independent Airports Commission was established in September 2012 to consider the need to deliver additional airport capacity, and the impacts of doing so. The Airports Commission has published a discussion paper, “Aviation connectivity and the economy”, and included the potential use of regional capacity in its Interim Report. These documents can be downloaded www.gov.uk/government/organisations/airports-commission.

Emergencies: Planning

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the recent National Contingency Plan exercise in Conwy Morfa.

Mr John Hayes: The National Contingency Plan exercise in Conwy Morfa on 10 and 11 September 2014 was coordinated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and involved 39 organisations and 180 participants.   The MCA, along with a number of other organisations, will assess how the exercise tested the response to an oil spill incident of national significance.   A formal report on the exercise, detailing lessons identified and recommendations, will be published within the first quarter of 2015. This timescale is necessary because of the complexity and scale of the exercise.

Large Goods Vehicles: EU Law

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he plans to make to his EU counterparts about attempts to delay the revised designs of HGVs in the revision of EU Directive 96/53 until after 2025.

Claire Perry: The EU Council text for EU Directive 96/53, as agreed during the EU June Transport Council of Ministers, does not include a lead in time to 2025 for new vehicle cab designs.   I want to make clear that the UK is fully committed to safer and more aerodynamic vehicle designs. We will continue to engage all key stakeholders to achieve the best outcome for the UK as we enter the next stage of EU level discussions on this Directive.

Motorcycles: Noise

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward measures to deal with excessive exhaust noise from motorcycles through the MOT test.

Claire Perry: The current motorcycle MOT test already includes an inspection for excessive noise from the exhaust. A machine will be rejected where the noise from a silencer is clearly in excess of that which would be produced by a similar machine fitted with a standard silencer in average condition.

River Thames: Bridges

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on proposals for new East London river crossings and the effect of such crossings on the Dartford to Thurrock crossing.

Mr John Hayes: It is for the Mayor and Transport for London to decide which schemes in London to develop and promote.   The Secretary of State for Transport has regular meetings with the Mayor of London at which various matters are discussed. Other Ministers regularly discuss London issues with Ministerial colleagues and others, including senior officials from Transport for London. Possible new Thames river crossings in East London have not been raised at recent meetings.

Railways: Woking

Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to reduce overcrowding on trains from Woking to London Waterloo; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: On the 3 September 2014, the Government and Stagecoach South Western Trains (SSWT) announced a £210 million deal for a fleet of new trains to increase capacity on some of the UK’s busiest commuter routes.   The order for 150 new train carriages will provide capacity for 24,000 additional peak-time passengers every day travelling into London Waterloo by May 2018.   These new trains will be deployed on suburban routes and will allow a further cascade of rolling stock enabling SSWT to deliver two new peak mainline services from May 2018; one from Woking and one from Basingstoke.   These carriages are in-addition to the 108 additional carriages secured in 2011/12, which have begun to arrive and are being used to lengthen suburban services trains from 8 to 10-cars.

Rolling Stock: Procurement

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of new jobs in the rail industry that will be created (a) directly and (b) indirectly as a result of the new rolling stock procured through the Intercity Express Programme for service on the (i) Great Western and (ii) East Coast Main Lines.

Claire Perry: The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) trains will be assembled at Hitachi’s newly built manufacturing plant at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham – creating around 730 permanent jobs in addition to jobs during the construction phase. Further jobs are being created in the construction phase of new and refurbished depots in support of the IEP. In addition, Hitachi Rail Europe also expects to grow its total UK staff from 200 to 1,800 within three years. Hitachi also expects to create hundreds more jobs in the UK manufacturing sector and wider transport supply chain as a result of IEP. Hitachi has already awarded 32 contracts to UK-based companies in relation to IEP.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the £4,408 million allocated to the Highways Agency renewals programme for 2015 to 2020-21 will come out of the budget for (a) strategic road enhancements and (b) maintenance.

Mr John Hayes: The £4,408m budget for the Highways Agency Renewals programme for the six year period 2015-16 to 2020-21 is capital investment for the renewal and repair of roads including resurfacing. This falls under the budget heading of Maintenance renewals.

M20

Sir Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2014 to Question 210740, what estimate the Highways Authority has made of the date at which the surface of the M20  between Junctions eight and nine will come to the end of its serviceable life; and if he will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes: The Highways Agency maintains databases containing indicative “end of life” dates for different types of asset. For carriageway assets, these dates may change for reasons such as the level of use, severe weather and damage from incidents. Concrete surfaces such as those on the M20 between junctions 8 and 9 have an indicative design life of approximately 40 years. This section was laid in 1991; therefore the indicative end of life is around 2031. However, as the current need for retexturing some short stretches of the M20 between junction 9 and 8 indicates, it may be that end of life will arrive before 2031. The Highways Agency will continue to monitor the M20 and as appropriate will bring forward partial or complete resurfacing schemes using modern quieter surfacing.

River Thames: Bridges

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on traffic flows along Thurrock's local road network of option A and option C for the Lower Thames crossing.

Mr John Hayes: The review report (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-lower-thames-crossing-options-final-review-report) of location options A, B, C and Cvariant for the new Lower Thames crossing, which was published alongside the options consultation on 21st May 2013, considered the potential impacts on the surrounding local road networks. Following the Secretary of State’s announcement of 15th July 2014, these and many other potential impacts will now be examined in greater detail at both remaining location options A and C - and further consultation is expected to follow in late 2015 or early 2016.

River Thames: Bridges

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the additional investment which would be required at junction 30 of the M25 for the Lower Thames crossing options A and C.

Mr John Hayes: The Department for Transport’s initial estimate of the additional investment that may be required at junction 30 of the M25 for the Lower Thames crossing options A and C was published on 15th July 2014, and is available on the Department’s website at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lower-thames-crossing-potential-additional-network-investment-at-m25-junction-30-and-on-the-a13

River Thames: Bridges

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the consequences for air quality in Thurrock of options A and C for the Lower Thames crossing.

Mr John Hayes: The Department for Transport’s initial comparative assessment of the potential consequences for air quality in Thurrock of options A and C for the Lower Thames crossing was published on 15th July 2014, and is available on the Department’s website at:   https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324374/module-1.pdf

Railways: North of England

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent changes there have been to fares and rolling stock on the Northern and TransPennine franchises.

Claire Perry: Since December 2013 a £60million investment has delivered ten brand new Class 350 trains for Transpennine Express providing additional capacity. Fares set by TransPennine Express have not changed since January 2014.   There have been no recent changes to the Northern Rail fleet.   From 8 September, Northern introduced an evening peak period for the main cities during which off-peak tickets cannot be used. This will have no impact for season ticket holders. Northern believe this may reduce crowding for peak time commuters.

Home Office

Illegal Immigrants: Greater London

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued as part of Operation Skybreaker on effective engagement with community groups, faith leaders, local police safer neighbourhood panels, safer neighbourhood boards and others.

James Brokenshire: Operation Skybreaker is predominantly based on standard Immigration Enforcement operation procedures. Where new approaches have been adopted, additional guidance has been issued to officers on employer compliance visits. The guidance covers the purpose and aims of such visits, powers of entry, risks, actions to take place during the visit, what officers are not authorised to do and the recording of information post-visit. A Policy Equality Statement was produced to measure the type and extent of engagement; regular Community Impact Assessments are also completed.

Immigration Controls

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money her Department has generated through immigration control in each of the last five years; and what proportion of such money was (a) retained by her Department and (b) returned to HM Treasury in each such year.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is shown in the following table:2013-142012-132011-122010-112009-10 Visa & Immigration income1,052,613 923,990 829,035 812,685 731,678  Payable to the Consolidated fund.41,699 - 33,313 2,246 4,854  Non Retainable income  33,279 - 4,854  Other non-retainable income  34 2,246   Excess Visa and Immigration income41,699 - Notes:  1. 2009-10 restated in the 2010-10 UKBA accounts   2. 2010-11 figures restated in 2011-12 UKBA accounts   3. 2012-13 figures restated in the 2013-14 Home Office Annual Report and Accounts   Source: 2012-13 and 2013-14 numbers were taken from the published 2013-14 Home Office Annual Report and accounts 2011-12 and 2010-11 were taken from the published 2011-12 UKBA accounts2009-10 was taken from the published 2010-11 UKBA accounts

Kidnapping: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been abducted by a member of their family in the last five years; how many such children were returned to their family; and how long each such abduction lasted.

Norman Baker: The Home Office does not hold the specific information requested.Statistics on child abduction are published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This data does not identify the perpetrator. Nor does it provide a breakdown of attempted child abductions and actual child abductions. The latest ONS statistics, published 16 October 2014, report that there have been 2721 child abductions and attempted abductions in the last five years.A breakdown of this figure by year is provided below: 2009/105602010/115482011/125322012/135132013/14568Total 2721

Kidnapping: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children abducted by a member of their family were taken overseas in the last five years.

Norman Baker: The Government is not notified of every case when a child is removed overseas by a relative, therefore we cannot provide accurate figures for abducted children. There are a number of steps that left behind parents can take if their child is taken overseas without their consent and we urge parents to contact the relevant desk officer in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Consular Directorate country casework teams who can provide further assistance. The UK lobbies countries that are not signatories of the 1980 Hague Convention to sign it. If a child is removed to a country that is a signatory of the Hague Convention there are systems in place to help secure the child’s return. Cases involving non-Hague convention signatories are much harder to resolve and parents often face lengthy and expensive court proceedings abroad to try to facilitate their return.

Prisoners: Illegal Immigrants

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are being held in prisons solely under immigration powers.

James Brokenshire: As at 14 October 2014 there were 374 detainees held in prison establishments solely under immigration powers.The information provided above is based on management information only and has not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications. These figures are provisional and are subject to change.

Organised Crime: EU Law

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether the UK may be obliged to provide sensitive security or law enforcement information to EU evaluation teams under Joint Action 97/827/JHA if it opts back into that Joint Action after it has come under full CJEU jurisdiction.

Karen Bradley: A full assessment has been conducted on the sharing of advice and best practice between EU member states through Joint Action 97/827/JHA. Details of this assessment can be found in Command Paper 8897 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/326698/41670_Cm_8897_Accessible.pdf), published on 3 July 2014. Joint Action 97/827/JHA provides a forum in which to share advice and best practice on topics agreed between Member States. There are no obligations to share sensitive security or law enforcement information.

Passports: Illegal Immigrants

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for passports for those found living illegally in the UK without documentation from (a) India, (b) Bangladesh, (c) Pakistan, (d) Nigeria and (e) China were refused in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty's Passport Office does not hold the information requested.

Offences Against Children: Internet

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2014 to Question 207065, in which rulings the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) or its predecessor courts has interpreted or applied (a) Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or the same provision in previous versions of the EU treaties and (b) Article 276 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or the same provision in previous versions of the EU treaties; and on what provisions of those rulings the Government bases its assertion that opting back into Council Decision 2000/375/JHA will not bring the UK's strategy for tackling indecent images of children online or any action by UK law enforcement pursuant to that strategy under the jurisdiction of the CJEU.

Karen Bradley: The Government takes the issue of indecent images of children very seriously, and is working with a wide range of international partners to tackle these appalling images. We work with both EU and non-EU States, and will continue to do so. As explained in the Government’s answer of 2 September 2014 to PQ 207065, the Government has considered the potential impacts of CJEU jurisdiction very carefully in deciding which of the pre-Lisbon police and criminal justice measures it is in the interests of the UK to rejoin.While the CJEU has not yet ruled in a relevant case, Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) makes clear that the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security is a responsibility for Member States. In addition, Article 276 of the TFEU states that the CJEU shall have no jurisdiction to review the validity or proportionality of operations carried out by the police or other law enforcement services of a Member State, or the exercise of responsibilities incumbent upon Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security.The decision to seek to opt in to Council Decision 2000/375/JHA will therefore not bring the Government’s strategy in tackling indecent images of children under the jurisdiction of the CJEU or any action taken by UK law enforcement pursuant to that strategy.

Schengen Agreement: ICT

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of whether Framework Decision 2002/465/JHA would permit national legislation that required the relevant competent authorities to establish joint investigation teams under the Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, where that Protocol is available, rather than under the Framework Decision.

Karen Bradley: It is a matter for Member States to define how their competent authorities establish joint investigation teams. However, the Second Additional Protocol is not in force in Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain and as such does not offer a basis for the UK to establish joint investigation teams with those Member States. To date the UK has participated in 54 joint investigation teams.This includes six JITs with Member States that have not ratified the Second Additional Protocol, five of which are ongoing. A recent example of a Joint Investigation Team was Operation Birkhill, which was a joint operation with Hungary targeting a UK-Hungarian sex trafficking organised crime group. As a result of the operation, five people were sentenced to a total of 36 years imprisonment earlier this year.

Offences against Children

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what allegations of child abuse, including investigations into such allegations, were brought to her Department's attention in 1998 and 1999.

Norman Baker: On 7 July the Home Secretary announced to the House that she had appointed Peter Wanless to lead a Review of an investigation by an independent expert into what information the Home Office had received in relation to child abuse allegations during the period 1979 and 1999.The Permanent Secretary appointed Richard Whittam QC to assist in this task. The Review has had access to all material identified which would relate to child abuse and which the Department still holds. The Home Secretary has now received the report of the Review and is considering its findings ahead of the full report being published.

Harassment

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police staff in each police area in England and Wales have received training in sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Mike Penning: The College of Policing sets standards and provides relevant training products and services to police forces. This includes a College of Policing training package on stalking which has been completed 56,748 times between October 2012 and 30 September 2014 by police officers and staff in England and Wales.The Home Office does not hold information which breaks this figure down by police officers and staff for each police area in England and Wales.

Prisoners: Repatriation

Mr Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national prisoners were removed from the UK in each year between 2000 and 2006.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Offences against Children

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any meetings took place in her Department between 1980 and 1985 to discuss the alleged involvement of hon. Members in child abuse; and whether minutes of such meetings were given to the then Secretary of State.

Norman Baker: On 7 July the Home Secretary announced to the House that she had appointed Peter Wanless to lead a Review of an investigation by an independent expert into what information the Home Office had received in relation to child abuse allegations during the period 1979 and 1999. The Permanent Secretary appointed Richard Whittam QC to assist in this task. The Review has had access to all material identified which would relate to child abuse and which the Department still holds. The Home Secretary has now received the report of the Review and is considering its findings ahead of the full report being published.

Offences against Children

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether files relating to investigations by her Department of hon. Members and allegations of child abuse between 1980 and 1985 have been made available to the Wanless Review.

Norman Baker: On 7 July the Home Secretary announced to the House that she had appointed Peter Wanless to lead a Review of an investigation by an independent expert into what information the Home Office had received in relation to child abuse allegations during the period 1979 and 1999.The Permanent Secretary appointed Richard Whittam QC to assist in this task. The Review has had access to all material identified which would relate to child abuse and which the Department still holds. The Home Secretary has now received the report of the Review and is considering its findings ahead of the full report being published.

Offences against Children

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any files were taken from the journalist Don Hale, editor of the Bury Messenger in the 1980s; who authorised the seizure of such files; and whether the material seized included minutes of investigations within the Home Office concerning child abuse and hon. Members.

Norman Baker: On 7 July the Home Secretary announced to the House that she had appointed Peter Wanless to lead a Review of an investigation by an independent expert into what information the Home Office had received in relation to child abuse allegations during the period 1979 and 1999.The Permanent Secretary appointed Richard Whittam QC to assist in this task. The Review has had access to all material identified which would relate to child abuse and which the Department still holds. The Home Secretary has now received the report of the Review and is considering its findings ahead of the full report being published.

Rape

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she last met the (a) Chief Constable of Cheshire and (b) the Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss HM Inspector of Constabulary's finding on the recording of rape crimes; and if she will make a statement.

Mike Penning: Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Bahrain

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received of the detention of Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are aware of the detention of Nabeel Rajab. A member of British Embassy staff attended the first hearing of Mr Rajab’s case on Sunday 19 October. The case has been adjourned until 29 October. Our Ambassador has raised the case with the Government of Bahrain and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Western Sahara

Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has instructed HM Ambassador in Rabat to investigate the matter of the mistreatment of the UK citizen, Joanna Allen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Ms Allan visited the British Embassy in Rabat on 25 April and spoke to consular staff there. The Embassy explained that they could not intervene with the Moroccan authorities regarding her alleged surveillance by the Moroccan police. If Ms Allan wishes to send a letter of complaint through our Embassy in Rabat they will pass it on to the relevant authorities.

Pakistan

Mr James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of the case of Asia Bibi and the death sentence she has received in Pakistan for an alleged offence of blasphemy; what representations he has made to the government of Pakistan about that country's blasphemy laws; and whether he has received any representations on the possibility of excluding Pakistan from the Commonwealth on human rights grounds.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I am concerned to hear about the case of Asia Bibi and reports that a court has upheld the imposition of the death penalty. We regularly raise at the highest levels the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan both against Muslims and against religious minorities. We have consistently pressed the government of Pakistan on the issue of the death penalty and our principled opposition to it in all cases and I will ensure that we continue to do both of these things. The FCO has not received any representations on the possibility of excluding Pakistan from the Commonwealth on human rights grounds. However, we consistently strive to foster debate on the death penalty to achieve a change in attitude on this issue within the Commonwealth.

Pakistan

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Pakistan authorities on the case of Asia Bibi.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I am concerned to hear about the case against Asia Bibi and about the decision to impose the death penalty. We regularly raise the issue of blasphemy laws, and their misuse against Muslims and religious minorities, at the highest levels in Pakistan. We have consistently pressed the government of Pakistan on the issue of the death penalty and expressed our principled opposition to it in all cases and I will ensure that we continue to do both of these things.

Himalayas

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what guidelines his Department offers to UK nationals who climb and trek in the Himalayas.

Mr Hugo Swire: The safety of British Nationals abroad is a major concern for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Foreign Office Travel Advice for Nepal, including the Himalayas, includes a section on trekking and is regularly updated at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Nigeria

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will hold discussions with African authorities on ensuring there is no further kidnapping by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Government is playing a leading role in the international response to the threat posed by Boko Haram, including its despicable practice of abducting men, women and children in north-eastern Nigeria. On 12 June, my Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Richmond (York) (William Hague MP), the former Foreign Secretary, announced a substantial new package of UK military, intelligence and development support to Nigeria as it tackles the terrorist threat. We continue to engage with Nigerian officials at both Federal and state level on their efforts to secure the release of those abducted and to provide protection from Boko Haram. We are also in touch with Nigeria’s regional partners, who have an important part to play in the effort to tackle Boko Haram. On 3 September my Hon Friend, the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge MP), the Minister for Africa, led the UK delegation at a regional ministerial meeting in Abuja on security in Nigeria. At this meeting he emphasised the importance of regional coordination between Nigeria and its neighbours

North Korea

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the North Korean Ambassador to the UK on the North Korean government's acceptance of the recommendations of its recent Universal Periodic Review.

Mr Hugo Swire: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers have had no substantive meetings with the North Korean Ambassador to the UK since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in May 2014, although senior FCO officials have met with the Ambassador to discuss a range of subjects. Following the adoption of the DPRK’s Universal Periodic Review report in September 2014 the United Kingdom issued a statement via our Mission in Geneva welcoming the DPRK’s engagement. We urged the DPRK to fulfil the commitment it made to respond to the 185 recommendations which it agreed to examine, and to take concrete steps to implement all the UPR recommendations. It remains of serious concern that 83 UPR recommendations did not enjoy the support of the DPRK, particularly those related to the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry, co-operation with the Special Rapporteur, the treatment of political prisoners and closure of political prison camps.

North Korea

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK manufacturing products are not used as components in North Korean produced weapons.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: North Korea is currently subject to sanctions imposed by the UN and EU. These measures include an asset freeze, travel ban and an extensive embargo which prohibits the export of arms, dual-use goods, and luxury goods and imposes restrictions on the export of other listed items which could contribute to nuclear or ballistic missile programmes. All export licence applications are assessed against the consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, considering the prevailing circumstances at the time of the application, including the capabilities of the equipment, and the end user. A licence would not be granted if to do so would be a breach of our international obligations or we assessed there was an unacceptable risk of diversion to a WMD programme or to a military programme in an embargoed destination. However, it is impossible to completely prevent non-listed items manufactured in the UK being used in North Korean produced weapons, for example if items are legitimately exported from the UK to third countries but are subsequently sold to entities in the DPRK. For this reason the UK is also active in encouraging other countries to enforce DPRK sanctions more effectively. HMRC works together with Border Force to enforce export controls and trade sanctions and they have a range of powers available to prevent illicit exports. Enforcing sanctions is a high priority.

Sanctions

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the UK has not applied sanctions to all individuals on the US and UN sanction lists.

Mr Hugo Swire: The UK implements all sanctions agreed at the UN. These sanctions are implemented via the EU. The UK is responsible for implementation for the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The US has its own domestic legislation by which it can introduce sanctions. This is an entirely separate process to the UN. The UK would not implement US domestic sanctions, although there may be individuals that the US designates which are also listed under UN sanctions.

Attorney General

Offences against Children: Internet

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General, how many requests for pre-charge decisions the Crown Prosecution Service received from the police with regard to cases of downloading indecent images of children in each of the last five years; and how many of those were prosecuted.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of cases of downloaded indecent images of children the Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute on the grounds of (a) failure to pass the evidential threshold and (b) a prosecution was not considered in the public interest in the last financial year.

Mr Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) do not keep a central electronic record of the charges considered by prosecutors following a request for a pre-charge decision (PCD) by the police. To identify the number of PCDs in which a charge relating to the downloading of indecent images of children was considered would require a manual exercise to review individual PCD files which would attract a disproportionate cost. For the same reason, it is not possible to provide data related to the grounds for declining to prosecute PCD referrals involving allegations of downloaded indecent images.

Offences against Children: Internet

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General, what recent discussions there have been between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the head of the National Crime Agency about the capacity of both agencies to bring cases of downloading indecent images of children to justice; and what the conclusions of those discussions were.

Mr Robert Buckland: The Director of Public Prosecutions has regular bilateral meetings with the Director General of the National Crime Agency. There have been no recent discussions about the capacity of both agencies to bring cases of downloading indecent images of children to justice.   The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is currently working with the police to roll out nationally the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID). The introduction of the CAID will allow the police and CPS to identify and prosecute more perpetrators.

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Attorney General, in respect of how many alleged offences under section 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 proceedings are currently active in magistrates' and Crown courts in England and Wales.

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been (a) charged and (b) prosecuted under sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been charged under (a) section 2A and (b) section 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in each police force in England and Wales since those sections came into force.

Mr Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of people charged and prosecuted, however it is not possible to identify the numbers of individuals prosecuted for offences charged under specific pieces of legislation. Figures are only held for the number of offences charged under sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in cases finalised by the CPS. It is not possible to identify the number of currently active proceedings in the courts involving charges under any specific pieces of legislation. The CPS maintains a central record of the number of offences charged, not defendants prosecuted, under sections 2A and 4A of the 1997 Act. A single defendant may be prosecuted for multiple offences.The attached tables detail the number of offences charged under S.4A(1)(a)(b)(i) and S.4A(1)(a)(b)(ii) by each police force in England and Wales, and the number of offences charged under 2A(1) of the 1997 Act by each police force in England and Wales.



Tables: harassment offences charged by CPS
(Word Document, 20.59 KB)

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Mr Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Attorney General, how many Crown Prosecution lawyers have been trained to deal with offences of stalking under sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in each Crown Prosecution Service area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has developed two online e-Learning courses on all types of stalking. The “Cyber Crime: Cyber Stalking” course includes cyber stalking, non-cyber stalking and harassment. The “Stalking and Harassment” course (which was released in April 2014) deals specifically with stalking and harassment offences. The CPS maintains a central record of the number of prosecutors who have been trained to deal with stalking and harassment offences by way of the e-Learning courses.   The data covers the period 1 November 2012 (the month when the Cyber Stalking e-Learning module was revised to include the new stalking offences) to 21 October 2014 and is in relation to solicitors and barristers with practising certificates. The data includes only those lawyers who have completed all elements of either the Cyber Stalking or Stalking and harassment e-Learning courses.   The numbers of staff who have completed the training are lower than those given in answers to previous Parliamentary Questions as a result of staff moves, career breaks and departures in the wider context of a reducing staff headcount. The CPS continues to train staff to deal with stalking and harassment offences on an ongoing basis.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many complaints about the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme his Department has received in each year since the inception of that scheme.

Matthew Hancock: Delivery of EFG is fully devolved to over 40 participating lenders, each of which has their own arrangements for handling customer complaints. The Department does not mediate in disputes between individual borrowers and lenders. Any business complaining to BIS or the British Business Bank is guided in the first instance to follow their lender’s complaints procedure. Upon exhaustion of that process the next step for dealing with an unresolved dispute in most instances will be to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many applications to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme have been (a) submitted, (b) approved and (c) terminated following approval by his Department since the inception of that scheme.

Matthew Hancock: Delivery of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) is fully devolved to over 40 participating lenders. As such the Department for Business Innovation and Skills does not directly receive, approve or terminate any EFG applications.Participating lenders do not report to the Department numbers of applications submitted or terminated. Since inception of the scheme in January 2009, participating lenders have made offers of 26,189 EFG-backed loans and other types of debt facilities.

Working Conditions

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that companies are held responsible for labour conditions throughout their supply chains.

Jo Swinson: Companies are held accountable by investors, consumers and civil society as well as governments for the way in which they conduct their operations, including labour conditions, and how they report on their actions in this regard.   Since October 2013, quoted companies have been required to provide information in their Annual Report about social, community and human rights issues, including information about any policies of the company in relation to those matters and the effectiveness of those policies.   The Department has negotiated at the European level to strengthen current human rights disclosure requirements and make them more specific. Provisions have now been agreed that will apply across all EU Member States from 2017 to large quoted companies and Public Interest Entities. My Department will shortly be consulting on the transposition of these measures into UK law.   Additional disclosure requirements will be introduced in the Modern Slavery Bill. Big businesses will have to publicly state each year what action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are slavery free. This requirement goes further than any similar legislation in the world by applying to businesses regardless of the nature of a company or what it supplies, whether goods or services.   In September 2013, the UK was the first country to publish a National Action Plan implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Action Plan underlines the duty of businesses to respect the human rights of their employees and those in their supply chains. My Department is taking action to develop guidance for businesses reporting on this obligation, beginning with the retail sector.  In order to toughen up our enforcement of the National Minimum Wage my Department has made it simpler to name and shame employers that break the law on the National Minimum Wage and has increased the financial penalty that employers pay for breaking the law from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid wages owed to workers. The maximum penalty has also increased from £5,000 to £20,000 and will be applied per worker not per firm.

Internet: Data Protection

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential for online personal information and big data to be used for discriminatory practices by organisations and agencies.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government is committed to protecting the privacy and data security rights of individuals, and does recognise that the potential exists for online personal information and data to be misused by organisations and agencies, including for discriminatory purposes. For this reason, stringent safeguards are in place to ensure personal data is protected and handled appropriately.   The Data Protection Act 1998 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights impose clear legal limits on how organisations can record, store, alter, use or disclose personal data. In addition the Information Commissioners Office, the UK’s independent authority for upholding information rights, provides advice to citizens, rulings on eligible complaints and can take action when the law on data privacy is broken.   The Government is also currently working with the Information Economy Council, business groups, regulators, the third sector, and consumer bodies to develop a framework of trust and privacy principles for businesses. The framework will be in addition to existing data protection legislation and is being developed to help create greater public confidence in how companies use and re-use their personal data.

EU External Trade: USA

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of including the National Health Service in the negative list of exclusion for negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership.

Matthew Hancock: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not change the fact that it is up to UK Government alone to decide how UK public services, including the NHS, are run. The UK has insisted on maintaining the same safeguards for the NHS in TTIP as it has in all recent trade agreements.   This position was confirmed by the European Commission

Apprentices: Young People

Mr Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to persuade more businesses to offer apprenticeships to 16 to 18 year olds.

Nick Boles: Apprenticeship reforms are putting employers in the lead of designing apprenticeships, making it more attractive for them to offer more in the future.   Across this parliament we have already supported over 500,000 new apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds. Building on the success of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers, we are providing an additional £170 million to fund over 100,000 incentive payments of £1,500 to employers taking on a young person aged 16-24.

Department for International Development

South Sudan

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps are being taken to ensure better capacity building programmes in South Sudan to help address the food crisis in that country.

Lynne Featherstone: The UK is keenly aware of the need to address food insecurity more sustainably in South Sudan where the current security situation makes this possible. In addition to providing substantial financial commitments to life-saving emergency food assistance in the worst conflict-affected areas, we are also supporting a £77 million portfolio of programmes in other areas of the country that build community and household resilience through investments in food and livestock production, stimulating weak food markets in urban centres, and making much-needed improvements to the feeder road network, which is critical to ensuring locally-produced food can be transported to urban markets.

South Sudan

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will discuss food security, health and nutrition in South Sudan with the government of that country.

Lynne Featherstone: South Sudan’s leaders need to take ultimate responsibility for the humanitarian situation, and the UK continues to urge the government and opposition to act now to stop the fighting and start to build a lasting peace and make every effort to allow aid to quickly reach their people. In the meantime, the need for life-saving humanitarian assistance and delivery of basic services remains critical. During my visit to South Sudan in September this year, I raised the issue of food security in discussions with Government. The UK engages with the relevant ministers, ministries and sector working groups and through the Government Partner Forum. DFID-funded health programmes work in close collaboration with government, and DFID support has been instrumental in pioneering a government-led health sector plan and in strengthening government health systems. A DFID-funded programme in 3 northern states of South Sudan, which works alongside government, is expected to enable 175,000 to become food secure by the end of 2014. The UK, with other donors and UN agencies, is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to agree the content and conditions necessary for signing of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Process Compact. This will support food security through a 10% allocation of the national budget to the agricultural sector.

Overseas Aid

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Development Tracker; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne: The Development Tracker was launched by the Secretary of State on 31 October 2013 to present project documents, budgets, transactions and locations of DFID projects in line with the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) open data standard. The Tracker has enabled a step change in public access to information on how UK development assistance is being used.   The Tracker is continually assessed and improved according to user need. The Tracker has 14000 visits and 80000 page views per month. There are 2442 email subscribers and 12949 email alerts were delivered in October 2014. Almost 60% of users are from the UK, with a wide range of users from countries where we work.   The Tracker has received positive feedback from users. In October 2014, DFID was ranked 2nd in the global Publish What You Fund Aid Transparency Index which noted that the Tracker represents “a major step forward in improving the accessibility of information on UK development assistance by integrating IATI data for NGO implementing partners with its own data and that of other UK government departments”.

Procurement

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's (a) direct and (b) indirect spending on procurement was with companies defined as micro businesses according to the definition given by the Annex to the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 for each of the last five years.

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's direct spending on procurement was with companies defined as small businesses according to the definition given by the Annex to the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 for each of the last five years.

Mr Desmond Swayne: DFID does not record information on the classifications of business below the overall category ‘small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME’s) therefore we cannot respond to the level of detail you have specified.

Turkey

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department has offered Syrian Kurds in exile in Turkey.

Mr Desmond Swayne: Since the start of the Syria crisis, DFID has allocated £24.2 million to support Syrian refugees in Turkey. DFID has also responded to the urgent needs of the newly arrived Syrian refugees fleeing ISIL advances on Kobane, working with the relevant authorities and our partners to provide mattresses, non-food items and shelter for the most needy families. We stand ready to respond positively should further aid be needed.

Department for Education

Schools: Admissions

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what figures her Department holds on pupil intake changes of schools founded before 2010 ranked by those which have experienced the most rapid growth in pupil numbers.

Mr David Laws: Data on the pupils enrolled at all maintained schools, academies (including free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges) and non‑maintained special schools, is collected via the school census. Data is collected for all schools regardless of growth in pupil numbers or date of opening of the school. The school census captures a wide range of information including pupil headcount, special educational needs, eligibility for free school meals, first language and ethnicity (though not pupil nationality).Data for individual schools is included within the underlying data of the series listed below: ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’[1] and ‘Special educational needs in England’.[2][1] www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers[2] www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

Special Educational Needs

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects Ofsted to report on the role of inspection in monitoring specialist education support services for children with special educational needs.

Mr Edward Timpson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 September 2014 to Question 208892.

Ministry of Justice

Prisons: Driving Instruction

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what offences were committed by each offender who took car driving lessons or tests while in prisons in 2013.

Andrew Selous: Temporary release can be an important tool in helping prisoners to re-adjust safely and productively to life in the community. It is allowed to prisoners only towards the end of their time in custody and only after a thorough risk assessment. We are changing the approach to temporary release to give even greater weight to public protection and the need for prisoners to demonstrate how the release will aid their rehabilitation and increase their chances of leading a crime free life on release. Prisoners are only allowed to take driving lessons if the licence is required to help their rehabilitation, for example improving future employment prospects, thus reducing their likelihood of re-offending. Prisoners are expected to fund the lessons and tests out of their own pockets but may be offered some assistance in exceptional circumstances. The following table details the number of prisoners who were released on temporary licence for driving lesson or tests in 2013 by offence type; ie the principal offence for the sentence that they were serving when temporarily released: Offence group2013Violence89Sexual0Robbery29Burglary2Theft and Handling5Fraud and Forgery3Drugs51Motoring0Other10Not known1TOTAL190Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. 190 offenders were granted temporary release for driving lessons or tests in 2013, compared to 215 in 2008.

Judicial Review: Legal Costs

Mr Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on legal fees in unsuccessful attempts to avoid judicial reviews in cases concerning (a) residence tests, (b) mesothelioma compensation, (c) barrister fees, (d) criminal solicitor fees and (e) other cases since 2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice is provided with legal advice by members of the Government Legal Service and other qualified persons. Advice is provided on a wide variety of matters, including for the purpose of ensuring that decisions are lawful, but that is part and parcel of routine legal advice work and it is not therefore possible to break down legal fees in the way in which the honourable Member has requested.

Trials

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time between a crime being committed and the trial being completed was in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date in (i) magistrates' courts, (ii) Crown courts and (iii) all courts.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The data requested is already published and is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358650/court-statistics-main-tables-april-june-2014.xls The data for magistrates’ courts can be found in table 3.9, for the Crown Court in table 3.11, and for all courts in table 3.12.

Courts: Staff

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many full time equivalent staff (a) in total and (b) by category of staff were employed in (i) magistrates' courts and (ii) Crown courts on 1 October in each of the last five years.

Simon Hughes: Information on how many full time equivalent staff were employed in each Magistrates' court and Crown court on 1 October in each of the last five years is not centrally held. However, this information is available on an annual basis as at the 31st March which is attached as an annex.



Full time equivalent staff
(Excel SpreadSheet, 59 KB)

Prisoners: Self-Harm

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that staff members in prisons and youth offenders institutions have sufficient information to allow inmates at risk of self-harm to be quickly identified.

Andrew Selous: All prisons are required to have procedures to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. A health assessment is undertaken for all prisoners on reception into custody to assess their risk of suicide or self-harm. The prisoner’s Person Escort Record form, which is available to staff on reception, may provide information about concerns of self-harm. When a prisoner is identified as being at-risk of self-harm, they are managed through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system. All relevant risk information is recorded on the Prison NOMIS case management system and on healthcare IT systems where appropriate. All staff working directly with prisoners have access to NOMIS and the relevant risk information.

Domestic Violence: Legal Aid Scheme

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications for legal aid have been made by victims of domestic violence in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Prior to 2013, when people applied for legal aid they were not asked to declare whether domestic violence had occurred. Since 2013, applications for legal aid do not routinely request this information as it is not relevant to legal aid provision in all categories of case. Therefore the data you request is not available. People seeking protective injunctions, like restraining orders, remain eligible for legal aid. Legal aid also remains available in private family cases that involve domestic violence. We have listened closely to any concerns about how the system has been operating, and made changes in response, such as making it easier to prove abuse and so get legal aid.

Secure Colleges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2014 to Question 210593, by what date his Department plans to finalise the criteria for awarding the operational contract.

Andrew Selous: The Ministry of Justice will finalise the criteria for awarding the operational contract in advance of release to the market as part of the suite of tender documentation. This is planned to be next year.

Judges

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Crown court trials have been adjourned due to no judge being available in each of the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Data is published in Court Statistics Quarterly showing the number of ineffective trials for a variety of agreed reasons, including “Judge / magistrate availability due to illness etc.”Court Statistics Quarterly can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/court-statistics-quarterly

Ministry of Defence

Pay

Mr Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) highest and (b) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12, (C) 2012-13, (D) 2013-14 and (E) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The tables show the highest and lowest salaries for each of the requested years for the Ministry of Defence and each of its non-departmental public bodies, which include trading funds and museums. The highest salaries relate to a small number of individuals within the organisation. In line with Cabinet Office guidance on publishing information, highest salaries are shown in £5,0000 bands. Pay scales for the highest and lowest Armed Forces Personnel salaries can be found in Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body (AFPRB) and Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) Reports. The AFPRB and SSRB Reports are published annually and copies are placed in the Library of the House. Alternatively, the Reports can be found on the gov.uk website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-manpower-economics Further details on MOD senior salaries and non-departmental public bodies can be found on the gov.uk website at the following link: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/organogram-and-staff-pay-data-for-ministry-of-defence 



MOD Pay Statistics 2011-2015 - 208278
(Word Document, 56 KB)

Defence: Procurement

Sir Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's communication to industry of its future requirements.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) works closely with defence companies through several forums to ensure the best possible access to its future requirements. The Department engages key suppliers, defence trade associations and SMEs through regular meetings of the Defence Suppliers Forum, the SME Forum and their respective sub-committees. In addition, under the delegated model of defence transformation, each of the Commands have regular interface through their equipment capability teams with relevant industry to apprise them of broad capability issues. We hold regular industry days focused on particular projects and programmes which allow the department and domains an opportunity to discuss future requirements directly with a wide range of suppliers, including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. This includes regular events organised by Front Line Commands to share information with industry about future requirements such as the Air Environment Capability Strategy day held in May 2014. The MOD uses the MOD Defence Contracts Online portal and, where appropriate, the Contracts Finder portal, to advertise all its publishable tenders and contract opportunities valued in excess of £10,000. Access to the portals are free of charge.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what reports he has received that holes in the rear section of Typhoon aircraft were not de-burred properly; what assessment he has made on the effect of this on aircraft lifespan; and whether he plans to halt delivery of new Typhoon aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne: In June 2014, BAE Systems notified the Department of a manufacturing issue (de-burring) affecting Typhoon aircraft rear fuselages. Testing is currently under way to substantiate how this may affect the long-term fatigue life of the airframe, although we believe that there will be little impact on the lifespan of the aircraft. Deliveries of new aircraft will continue as planned. Typhoon remains safe and is continuing normal operations without any performance impact or limitations. It has a service life of six thousand hours per airframe.

Navy: Military Bases

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what companies bid for a proportion of the Maritime Support and Delivery Framework.

Mr Philip Dunne: Companies were not required to bid for work under the Maritime Support and Delivery Framework (MDSF), which replaces three Warship Support Maintenance Initiative contracts, ship services contracts with BAES and Babcock, and contracts for a range of support activities. The contracts were awarded to our industrial partners at the UK’s naval bases to support the management of the bases and to maintain and repair the Royal Navy’s warships. The Ministry of Defence is able to deliver £350 million of savings under the MSDF over four and a half to five and a half years.

Sierra Leone

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has planned for incidents of Ebola infection amongst the 750 troops to be deployed in Sierra Leone.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has a robust plan to be enacted in the unlikely event that any of our troops contract Ebola.

Minesweepers

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Sandown class minehunters.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Patrol Craft

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of River class patrol vessels.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Patrol Craft

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Archer class patrol vessels.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Warships

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of (i) HMS Echo, (ii) HMS Enterprise, (iii) HMS Scott, (iv) HMSML Gleaner, (v) HMS Protector and (vi) HMS Endurance.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Patrol Craft

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Scimitar class patrol vessels.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Astute Class Submarines

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Astute class submarines.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Trafalgar Class Submarines

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Trafalgar class submarines.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Trident Submarines

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the crew complement by (a) rank and (b) specialisation is of Vanguard class submarines.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Baha Mousa Inquiry

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken in response to Recommendation 44 of the Gage Report into the death in custody of Baha Mousa.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Staff

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's civilian manpower (a) establishment and (b) current strength is, broken down by top-level budget holder.

Anna Soubry: The table details the number of civilian posts and civilian strength as at 1 July 2014:   Ministry of Defence (MOD) Main Top Level BudgetsNumber of Posts (Full Time Equivalent)Civilian Strength (Full Time Equivalent)Navy3,0002,510Army13,64010,890RAF6,3405,190Head Office & Corporate Services9,8207,300Joint Forces Command7,8205,680Defence Equipment & Support13,78010,540Defence Infrastructure Organisation6,9304,570Total61,33046,680Note: Figures include all industrial and non-industrial personnel, but exclude all Trading Funds, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and locally engaged civiliansA full breakdown of the numbers, intake and outflow of all civilian personnel employed by the MOD is published in the MOD’s Quarterly Civilian Personnel Report. The latest edition includes data as at 1 July 2014 and is available at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/341413/20140807-MOD-quarterly-civilian-personnel-July-2014.pdf

Middle East

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his US counterparts about the use by other forces of depleted uranium in Iraq or Syria.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Rehabilitation

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of staff are expected to be employed by Stanford Hall  Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre after 2018.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

DMRC Headley Court

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service personnel have received treatment at Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in each year since 2001.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

DMRC Headley Court

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the future of Headley Court after 2018.

Anna Soubry: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement about the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre made on 10 July 2014 (Official Report, columns 28-31WS). 



Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre
(Word Document, 29.5 KB)

Sentinel Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what costs for the re-fit of the Sentinel aircraft fleet have accrued under each cost heading in each year of the programme.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Sentinel Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department intends to sign the contract for the upgrade of the maritime-capable software on Sentinel aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Sentinel Aircraft

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department intends to sign the contract for the installation of a DMR radar onto the Sentinel aircraft.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

DMRC Headley Court

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many jobs he forecasts will be affected by the closure of Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Colombia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Colombia on Colombian internal security in the last 12 months.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Colombia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representatives of British armed forces and his Department travelled to Colombia during 2013 and 2014.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Colombia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any projects contained in the Memorandum of Understanding between his Department and the Colombian Ministry of Defence signed in January 2014 have been designed and executed; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Colombia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has had discussions with the Colombian government in the last six months on future security assistance from the UK.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Iraq

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any British nationals have been killed in airstrikes in his Department's operations in Iraq.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Iraq

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the rules of engagement are in the current Iraq conflict for (a) unmanned aerial vehicles and (b) manned aircraft involved in air strikes which include British nationals as targets.

Mr Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

RAF Kirton in Lindsey

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on consultants engaged on the disposal of the Kirton-in-Lindsey airbase.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Work and Pensions

Personal Independence Payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have received compensation payments from his Department for delays to assessment and decisions for personal independence payments; and how much his Department expects to pay out in such compensation in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Mr Mark Harper: The reasons for making special payments are not routinely recorded and to provide the requested information would incur disproportionate cost.

Employment and Support Allowance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether an impact assessment was carried out before contributions-based employment and support allowance claims were time limited.

Mr Mark Harper: The impact assessment for time limiting contributions-based employment and support allowance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175000/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia-revised-apr2011.pdf.pdf

Mesothelioma: Compensation

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information will be published by his Department on take-up of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment scheme; and at what frequency such data will be published.

Mr Mark Harper: DWP will carry out an annual review of the scheme as set out within the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme Regulations 2014. The first report under this regulation will be published on or before 30th November 2015. The report will set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the scheme, include the level of take up, and assess the extent to which those objectives have been achieved over the reporting period.

Mesothelioma: Compensation

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims made under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment scheme have been (a) submitted, (b) accepted, (c) concluded, (d) remain outstanding and (e) resulted in a payment being made.

Mr Mark Harper: As of 30th September 2014, the following applications have been made under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme: a) 173 applications have been submittedb) 101 applications have been acceptedc) 130 applications have been concluded(101 successful, 28 unsuccessful and 1 withdrawn)d) 43 applications were pending decisions.e) 88 applications have been paid.

Housing Benefit: Scotland

Mr Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much discretionary housing payment award he plans to give to each local authority in Scotland in  2014-15.

Steve Webb: The Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments that has been made available to each local authority in Scotland for 2014/15 is shown in the table below. Local authorities will inform us as to how much of this they will claim at the end of the financial year. Local AuthorityGovernment contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments for 2014/15Aberdeen£308,438 Aberdeenshire£480,948 Angus£357,857 Argyll and Bute£409,580 Clackmannanshire£176,383 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar£109,743 Dumfries and Galloway£732,662 Dundee£484,174 East Ayrshire£322,608 East Dunbartonshire£102,435 East Lothian£122,558 East Renfrewshire£67,736 Edinburgh£1,533,120 Falkirk£258,058 Fife£693,077 Glasgow£2,724,843 Highland£1,178,903 Inverclyde£210,794 Midlothian£183,798 Moray£228,368 North Ayrshire£408,703 North Lanarkshire£692,677 Orkney£50,592 Perth and Kinross£380,620 Renfrewshire£369,000 Scottish Borders£464,841 Shetland£71,267 South Ayrshire£305,618 South Lanarkshire£638,098 Stirling£420,609 West Dunbartonshire£339,751 West Lothian£402,484

Housing Benefit: Scotland

Mr Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much discretionary housing payment award was made to each local authority in Scotland in 2013-14.

Steve Webb: The Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments that was made available to each local authority in Scotland for 2013/14, alongside the amount of that funding claimed by each authority at the end of the year, is shown in the table below.  Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments for 2013/14Government contribution towards Discretionary Housing Payments claimed in 2013/14Aberdeen£369,125£369,125Aberdeenshire£594,825£463,374Angus£413,506£413,506Argyll and Bute£370,656£370,656Clackmannanshire£258,323£258,323Comhairle nan Eilean Siar£107,388£91,177Dumfries and Galloway£658,354£658,354Dundee£457,506£457,506East Ayrshire£171,570£171,570East Dunbartonshire£107,919£107,919East Lothian£137,196£137,196East Renfrewshire£83,222£83,222Edinburgh£1,430,709£1,430,709Falkirk£179,720£179,720Fife£974,985£974,985Glasgow£2,892,818£2,892,818Highland£1,077,115£1,077,115Inverclyde£213,174£213,174Midlothian£231,483£231,483Moray£252,230£181,444North Ayrshire£429,823£429,823North Lanarkshire£587,526£587,526Orkney£64,359£64,359Perth and Kinross£523,618£260,198Renfrewshire£517,351£517,351Scottish Borders£450,553£450,553Shetland£72,457£72,457South Ayrshire£262,150£262,150South Lanarkshire£742,570£742,570Stirling£400,324£400,324West Dunbartonshire£872,472£872,472West Lothian£364,648£364,648

Personal Independence Payment: Haemophilia

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) haemophiliacs, (b) haemophiliacs with hepatitis C, (c) haemophiliacs with HIV and (d) haemophiliacs with both HIV and hepatitis C have been assessed for eligibiity for the personal independence payment following transfer from the disability living allowance; and how many have been assessed as eligible for personal independence payment.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested on the numbers of personal independence payment (PIP) claims made by people who previously received disability living allowance (re-assessment claimants) is not available broken down by the long term health condition or disability they have. Information on the total number of reassessment claims received has been published and is available from the PIP statistical release page on GOV.UK:   https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.   Information on the numbers of successful PIP reassessment claims is not available to the level of detail asked for. The available information allows figures to be extracted against a range of primary health conditions, including: haematological disease (which includes haemophilia); infectious disease (which includes HIV); and diseases of the liver, gallbladder, biliary tract and pancreas (which includes hepatitis C). The information is published and can be found at:   https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.   Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:   https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm.

Employment and Support Allowance: Haemophilia

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) haemophiliacs, (b) haemophiliacs with hepatitis C, (c) haemophiliacs with HIV and (d) haemophiliacs with both HIV and hepatitis C have been initially migrated from income support or incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance; how many such decisions to migrate have been overturned on appeal; how many of those migrated have been placed in the employment and support allowance work-related activity group; and how many such decisions to place those migrated in the work-related activity group have been overturned on appeal.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested for (b), (c) and (d) and the information for (a) on the number of decisions overturned on appeal is not available.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209722, how many work programme participants he expects to be surveyed in the evaluation he has commissioned; and what criteria he has set out for selecting those participants.

Esther McVey: The department has commissioned a comprehensive evaluation of the Work Programme conducted by independent researchers which includes large scale participant surveys. In summer/autumn 2012 a national telephone survey that was representative of those joining the programme at that time was conducted with over 4,700 participants between six and nine months into their Work Programme journey; a follow-up survey of over 1,800 of the same participants was conducted in early 2014 when respondents had completed the two-year programme period.

Employment and Support Allowance: Motherwell

Mr Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Motherwell and Wishaw constituency have been in receipt of employment and support allowance payments for more than one year.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested is shown in the table below.   Number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants in the Motherwell and Wishaw parliamentary Constituency, with a duration of 1 year or more: As at February 2014:  TotalMotherwell and Wishaw3,030 Source: DWP, 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.   Notes: Figures are rounded to the nearest ten;Parliamentary Constituency of claimant (Westminster) These constituencies are used for the Westminster parliament.This information is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool

Employment and Support Allowance

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants rejected for eligibility for employment and support allowance and who were declared fit for work by a private assessment firm subsequently died of a pre-existing condition (a) within a week, (b) one to two weeks and (c) three to four weeks after the fit-for-work declaration to date.

Mr Mark Harper: The information requested is not available. It is important to note, however, that Atos Healthcare do not make decisions about entitlement for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) following a Work Capability Assessment (WCA). All eligibility decisions are taken by a DWP Decision Maker who will consider all of the available evidence, including information provided by the claimant (e.g. the ESA50 form), the Atos healthcare professional’s report and any available additional medical evidence.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Marine Protected Areas

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the level of funding needs for marine protected areas (MPAs) in British waters in respect of (a) appropriate habitat and condition monitoring and (b) enforcement of bylaw-protected components of MPAs.

George Eustice: Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee are responsible for advising and reporting, as appropriate, on the condition of features designated in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in waters for which the Secretary of State is responsible. Monitoring of MPAs is carried out as part of their statutory duty. The budgets provided by Government to Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee are allocated across a number of key work priorities, including MPA reporting and assessment. Responsibility for MPA enforcement rests with the appropriate regulatory bodies. Allocations of funding to enforcement activities are set out in respective corporate plans. The level of funding in future years will be finalised once budgets are confirmed.

Special Areas of Conservation: Plymouth

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects the condition report on the Plymouth Sound Special Area of Conversation to be completed; and what guidance her Department issues on how frequently such condition reports should be completed.

George Eustice: The last site specific assessment of the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries SAC took place in 2012. Natural England is currently revising its Condition Assessment methodology for Marine Protected Areas and plans to commence feature based assessments from the next financial year on a six yearly cycle.

Weed Control

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Schedule 9 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in controlling the spread of (a) Japanese knotweed and (b) other non-native plant species.

Dan Rogerson: Listing species on Schedule 9 is just one measure, adopted in line with the GB Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy, used to tackle the establishment and spread of invasive non-native plants. The GB Strategy is currently in the process of being reviewed. However, without the restrictions provided by section 14(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it would be legal to plant, or cause to grow in the wild, those species listed on the Schedule, including Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam.

Bovine Tuberculosis: South West

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the pilot badger culls in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Somerset have been evaluated as being safe, humane and effective.

George Eustice: The culls were closely monitored and the processes for data collection were independently audited. The results now need to be quality assured and assessed. It would not be appropriate to comment until these steps have been completed.

Housing Improvement

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking with water companies to produce cost guidelines for those involved in the process of extending their properties.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to work with water companies to produce a set of procedures for those involved in the process of extending their properties.

Dan Rogerson: Water company representatives are currently working with the building industry to produce a code of practice on how they handle requests about extensions to houses situated on land which may contain a sewer. A code should introduce greater transparency about the processes involved, and associated costs.

Poultry: Eggs

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on Crown Chicken Ltd's application to extend an existing hatchery at Green Farm in Kenninghall.

George Eustice: In September 2013, in her capacity as a constituency MP, Liz Truss wrote to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government passing on concerns raised by Crown Chicken, as a business in her constituency. There have been no discussions since then.

Bovine Tuberculosis: South West

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how long after the start of the badger culls in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Somerset cage trapping was adopted as a method of culling.

George Eustice: Both cage trapping and dispatch and controlled shooting are available control methods in each licensed area. As was the case last year, both were available for use throughout the 6-week duration of this year’s culls.

Bovine Tuberculosis: South West

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many badgers had been shot in the (a) Gloucestershire pilot area and (b) Somerset pilot area by the end of the licensed culling period.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of the badgers shot during year two of the pilot badger culls in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Somerset were (i) cage trapped and (ii) shot without being caged trapped.

George Eustice: The culls were closely monitored and the processes for data collection were independently audited. The results now need to be quality assured and assessed. It would not be appropriate to comment until these steps have been completed.

Bovine Tuberculosis: South West

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she expects an extension to the period within which year two of the pilot badger culls in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) Somerset are to take place to be (i) applied for and (ii) granted by Natural England.

George Eustice: Natural England has not received an application from either licensee for an extension to date. Should an application be made, it would be for Natural England to determine whether or not a licence for an extension should be granted.

Biofuels: Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2014, if she will make an estimate of social costs caused by (a) large particulates (PM10), (b) small particulates (PM2.5) and (c) nitrogen dioxide emitted to air in the UK by (i) domestic biomass generation of heat and (ii) biomass for power generation in the latest year for which figures are available.

Dan Rogerson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 9 June 2014, Official Report, column 272W. Social costs caused by air pollution are not routinely assessed. The 2010 Defra report ‘Valuing the impacts of air pollution’ estimated that the overall health impact from anthropogenic PM2.5 is £16bn per year (with a range of £9-19bn). The social costs of biomass heat have been assessed for specific policy development purposes in the past.

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of restricting farm subsidy payments for land fitted with solar panels through the Common Agricultural Policy on the food and farming industry.

George Eustice: Removing CAP subsidy payments from land on which solar arrays are hosted will ensure that farm subsidies support farmers whose primary use of the land is for agriculture and food production.

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the conclusions of the recent report by the NFU, National Solar Centre and Solar Trade Association Report on Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: We welcome the work of the farming and solar sectors to encourage best practice in the deployment of solar energy. The Agricultural Good Practice Guidance for Solar Farms highlights some important issues for developers to consider, such as flood risk and traffic management during construction. Nevertheless, the Government wants farmers to prioritise making the best use of their land for agriculture and food production

Rhinoceros: Conservation

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions at an international level on urgent action to prevent the extinction of northern white rhinos.

George Eustice: In February 2014 the UK Government hosted a major conference of global leaders to help eradicate the illegal wildlife trade and better protect the world’s most iconic species, such as rhinos, from the threat of extinction. Over 40 nations attended. The result was the London Conference Declaration, containing 25 commitments to action on enforcement and criminal justice, demand reduction and sustainable livelihoods. The UK is actively supporting Botswana in hosting a further Conference to review progress in March 2015.The UK chairs the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Rhino Working Group. This brings together countries implicated in the illegal trade in rhino horn, whether as a range or a consumer state, to share information and to develop and implement demand reduction strategies to help protect the rhino. The Group met and reported during the 65th CITES Standing Committee meeting in July 2014 and will do so again at the 66th meeting in January 2016.

Department for Communities and Local Government

EU Grants and Loans

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which bids in each region have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected under the European Regional Development Fund since May 2010.

Kris Hopkins: Since 2007, the 2007-13 round of the European Regional Development Fund has seen 1,535 projects across England approved, with £2.7 billion of funds committed.Of these, 860 bids were approved since May 2010; a further 395 were either withdrawn by applicants or rejected for not meeting the (complex) eligibility criteria established at the start of the programme under the last Administration. A list of projects is given in the attached table.All spending of taxpayers’ money must ensure value for money: and money should not be spent on poor quality projects just for the sake of it. Spending must also comply with complex and bureaucratic EU rules, or else risk “financial corrections” down the line. We continue to have concerns over the bureaucratic and time consuming nature of the processes involved in the programme, as a consequence of rules imposed by the European Commission.   



ERDF Projects
(Excel SpreadSheet, 62.65 KB)

New Towns

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many expressions of interest were (a) received and (b) considered by his Department in response to the locally-led Garden Cities Prospectus before 1 September 2014.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons his Department's work with local areas to understand barriers to building new locally-led garden cities as set out in the Garden Cities Prospectus is overdue in starting.

Brandon Lewis: In contrast to the Labour Government’s failed top-down policy to impose eco-towns on local communities, this Government’s approach is to work closely with areas that wish to bring forward locally supported large scale development. Our locally-led garden cities prospectus sought expressions of interest from local areas interested in delivering a new garden city. We want to work closely with areas which bring forward strong, locally supported expressions of interest to help them deliver their proposals, and will make further announcements in due course following ongoing discussions.

Vacant Land: Urban Areas

Mr David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many planning applications to develop urban green space have been approved in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: The information requested is not centrally held. This Government has introduced a new Local Green Space planning designation to allow local communities to give special protection to valuable green or open areas of particular importance to them; we have increased councils’ powers to stop unwanted garden grabbing; and we have strengthened the role and primacy of Local Plans to shape where development should and should not go, complemented by new neighbourhood planning.

Refuges

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the suitability of local commissioning for specialist domestic violence refuges.

Kris Hopkins: Decisions on the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic abuse are for local authorities; we expect local authorities to commission services based on the needs of their communities, taking account of locally available data sources. The dynamics of domestic abuse mean that accommodation can play an important role in the resolution of interpersonal abuse and conflict. This is why the homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and for vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own. There is a range of support for victims of domestic abuse. Some victims will be accommodated in refuges, but Sanctuary Schemes and mainstream local authority accommodation may be an option for others, while some victims will pursue independent solutions with help and advice from support schemes as necessary. This Government has invested £6.5 billion to help vulnerable people through housing related support. This forms a key element of refuge funding through local authority commissioned services. We also fund UKRefugesOnline a UK wide database of domestic violence services which supports the national 24 hour free phone domestic violence helpline. This service enables those working with victims of domestic violence to identify appropriate services and potential refuge vacancies around the country so that victims can get the help they need as quickly as possible. This Government has ring-fenced nearly £40 million of funding for specialist local domestic and sexual violence support services until 2015. This funding is used to part-fund 54 multi-agency risk assessment conference co-ordinators and 144 independent domestic violence advisers. We have piloted and rolled out Clare's Law and domestic violence protection orders; extended the definition of domestic abuse to cover controlling behaviour and teenage relationships; run two successful campaigns to challenge perceptions of abuse; and placed Domestic Homicide Reviews on a statutory footing to make sure lessons are learned from individual tragedies.We are keeping this matter under review, and are keen to support best practice and greater joint working.

Local Government Finance

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department used to calculate recent changes in funding levels for local authorities.

Kris Hopkins: The methodology that determines the retained business rates and Revenue Support Grant for local authorities is set out in the Local Govenrment Finance report each year. The Report for 2014/15 is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2014-to-2015/final-settlement-2014-to-2015-and-illustrative-settlement-2015-2016I also refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement of 5 February 2014, Official Report, Column 19-21WS.

Planning Permission: Birmingham

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will consult with Natural England on plans set out in the Birmingham City Council Development Plan and in particular to build on green belt land in Sutton Coldfield.

Brandon Lewis: This Government has revoked the previous administration’s top-down undemocratic Regional Strategies. It is for local councils in conjunction with their communities to determine what development is appropriate and where in bringing forward their Local Plans. Legislation specifically requires that councils consult Natural England in doing so. Through its planning policy this Government has maintained strong protections against inappropriate development in the Green Belt, and made absolutely clear that councils can only amend their Green Belt boundaries in exceptional circumstances, through the Local Plan. My Department has recently published new planning guidance reaffirming how councils should use their Local Plan drawing on protections in the National Planning Policy Framework, to safeguard their local area against urban sprawl. We have also made clear that the single issue of unmet demand is unlikely to outweigh harm to the Green Belt and other harm necessary to grant permission for inappropriate development. Unlike the Labour’s discredited Regional Strategies, we have been very clear that there are no central diktats demanding that councils rip up the Green Belt.

HM Treasury

Torbay

Mr Adrian Sanders: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many visits were made by Ministers of his Department to Torbay constituency in the 12 months to 14 October 2014; whom the invitation for each such visit was issued by; and what the cost to the public purse was of each such visit.

Andrea Leadsom: Details of Ministers’ visits are published quarterly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publicationshttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

Andrea Leadsom: Details of Ministers’ visits are published quarterly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publicationshttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

Construction: Industry

Dr William McCrea: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to help businesses in the construction sector outside London.

Nick Boles: I am replying on the behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Government is actively working to help all construction firms including those outside London. We are working with the industry to remove barriers to growth by improving the planning system and access to finance, and easing the burden of regulation.   On the demand side, we are stimulating the house building industry - in Autumn Statement 2013 my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £1bn extension of the Local Infrastructure Fund for large scale housing sites, to unlock around 250,000 homes over 6 years. We are also stimulating infrastructure development. The National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) sets a strategic vision for forthcoming infrastructure needs. It has identified a pipeline of over 500 projects costing around £250bn to 2015 and beyond.   On the supply side, we are working closely with the Construction Leadership Council to ensure that the industry is well placed to respond to growing markets, tackling issues such as skills, innovation, sustainability, productivity, efficiency and export performance.

Income Tax

Gloria De Piero: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in employment in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 who will not earn enough to pay any income tax in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Wales, (iv) Scotland, (v) Northern Ireland and (vi) each English region respectively; and how many such people (A) are men, (B) are women and (C) have dependant children.

Mr David Gauke: Estimates are provided in the table attached for the latest year available, which is the tax year 2012-13.   Number of individuals in employment (including self-employment) paying no income tax by regions, gender and individuals with dependent children (,000).These estimates are derived from the results of the 2012-13 Family Resources Survey (FRS).   



income tax payments
(Word Document, 18.7 KB)

Financial Services: Islam

Mark Pritchard: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to extend Sharia financing within the UK banking system.

Andrea Leadsom: There are currently no plans to extend shari'ah compliant financing into the UK banking system, but the Government will continue to work with the financial services industry to broaden the range of shari'ah compliant products and services available in the UK, and encourage the industry to play its part. The Government welcomes, for example, the recent creation of an Islamic Account by Lloyds Bank. This account allows customers who cannot receive credit or debit interest due to their religious beliefs to hold a bank account in the UK and is available to all UK citizens regardless of background or faith. Furthermore, The Bank of England has recently announced that it will be commencing work to assess the feasibility of establishing a shari'ah compliant facility next year, which the Government welcomes. Any such facility will help Islamic banks in the UK to better meet their obligations under the liquidity rules, bringing Islamic finance further into the mainstream.

Minimum Wage

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the investigation by HM Revenue and Customs against the five firms named and shamed for breach of the National Minimum Wage by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 28 February 2014 began; and when such firms were issued with the relevant Notice of Underpayment by HM Revenue and Customs.

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2014, Official Report, column 246W, in which months the investigations by HM Revenue and Customs commenced against each of the 25 firms named and shamed for breach of the National Minimum Wage by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 8 June 2014.

Stephen Timms: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employers have been issued with two or more notices of underpayment of the National Minimum Wage since 7 March 2014.

Mr David Gauke: The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, HMRC undertake targeted enforcement on employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.   The Government has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.   HMRC do not keep data on Notices of Underpayments in a format to enable provision of the statistics requested.   Of the 25 firms named by Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on 8 June 2014, 10 investigations commenced in October 2013; 10 in November 2013 and 5 in December 2013.   Of the 5 firms named by BIS on 28 February 2014, 4 investigations commenced in October 2013 and 1 during November 2013. The Notices of Underpayment for these 5 cases were all issued in December 2013.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Wind Power

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many wind turbines were erected in each of the last five years; and how many of those turbines have had to be repaired.

Amber Rudd: The Department does not hold information on when individual wind turbines were constructed and installed, nor on repair and maintenance of wind farm developments.It does however hold records of wind farm developments becoming fully operational and the number of turbines associated with those developments. This information is found on the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD):https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/renewable-energy-planning-dataFor reference, the following shows the number of wind turbines generating in wind farm developments that have become fully operational in the 5 years to the end of 2013:  Onshore WindOffshore Wind2009271103201029213020112745120126573092013683279Source: REPD, August 2014

Biofuels: Imports

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information his Department holds on investments by British companies (a) handling facilities for imports of biomass destined for combustion power generation and (b) pellet plants in the US for export of biomass to the UK for power generation.

Amber Rudd: This government takes great interest in the work of companies developing renewable energy capacity in the UK and maintains a regular dialogue on their processes and supply chains.

Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to his Department’s bioenergy emissions calculator, what progress his Department has made on ensuring that (a) biomass used for power generation (i) has its transportation distances minimised and (ii) has its moisture content minimised before drying and (b) pellets should be dried using local biomass residues rather than fossil fuels.

Amber Rudd: The UK has some of the toughest bioenergy sustainability criteria in the world and the UK remains at the forefront of improving sustainability standards. From next year payments will only be made for biomass which meets these standards.The greenhouse gas requirement uses the standard EU methodology and requires that biomass conversions represent at least a 69% GHG saving compared to coal. Generators may also use the Bioenergy Emissions and Counterfactual model to help in sourcing their biomass responsibly. The model adds to the evidence base and will be used to shape our future biomass policies.

Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which bioenergy installations (a) have and (b) have not achieved greenhouse gas savings of at least 70 per cent compared to the fossil fuels comparators.

Amber Rudd: Those installations supplying greater than 50kW of energy from bioliquids have been required to comply with the Renewable Energy Directive sustainability criteria since 2011. The average GHG emissions saving of bioliquids reported to Ofgem in the year 2012-2013 was 84.7%.In addition, the UK Government is bringing in tough new sustainability criteria for those supplying energy and power from biomass and biogas.Initially these were introduced as reporting requirements from April 2014. Next year we are introducing a mandatory 69% greenhouse gas saving1 requirement. All information on these savings will be published by Ofgem.[1] compared to coal

Cabinet Office

Business: South East

Jonathan Lord: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many small and medium-sized enterprises have premises in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey and (c) the South East.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - SME's
(PDF Document, 272.77 KB)

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on mutualising Jobcentre Plus.

Mr Francis Maude: We have not supported any Job Centre to become a public service mutual. You can find the full list of public service mutuals at: https://www.gov.uk/start-a-public-service-mutual-the-process

Social Enterprises

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which social enterprise incubators outside London his Department supports.

Mr Rob Wilson: Cabinet Office has supported 10 incubators through its £10M Social Incubator Fund.The incubators cover all areas of England, with six of the incubators located outside of London. Incubator  Geographical focusSocial Incubator NorthNorth of EnglandSocial Incubator EastEast of EnglandSEEDbedSouth West of EnglandDotforgeNorth of EnglandYoung AcademyLondon, Nottingham and DerbySolveLondon and Birmingham / Black CountryThe other four incubators (Wayra UnLtd, Bethnal Green Ventures, Big Issue Invest's Corporate Social Venturing and Health Social Innovators’ Fund) are based in London but have a national focus.

Hereditary Diseases

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many infant deaths were caused by MCAD deficiency in (a) East Lancashire, (b) the North West and (c) England in each of the last three years.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Infant Deaths
(PDF Document, 360.19 KB)

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Football

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings his Department has had with football supporters' groups or organisations since July 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Helen Grant: I meet regularly with a wide range of football organisations, including Supporters Direct and the Football Supporters Foundation. DCMS Ministers’ external meetings are published quarterly on the Departmental website https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/313639/Transparency_Declarations_Oct-Dec_2013_csv.csv/preview I continue to press the football authorities to better engage with their fans, but have been encouraged by the introduction of a designated Supporter Liaison Officer into each Premier League and Football League club.

Football Association

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings his Department has had with the Football Association since July 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with the Football Association on football governance since July 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Helen Grant: I meet regularly with a wide range of football organisations including the Football Association to discuss a range of issues, including their governance of the sport. DCMS Ministers’ external meetings are published quarterly on the Departmental website:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/313639/Transparency_Declarations_Oct-Dec_2013_csv.csv/preview I continue to press for improvements in football governance; they have made welcome progress, but I expect them to maintain this momentum. If football fails to demonstrate that they can reform their own governance of the game, I will not hesitate to use all the powers at our disposal, including legislation if necessary, to support our national game.

Department of Health

Immigration Controls: Infectious Diseases

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Home Department about steps to identify and segregate travellers entering the UK who may be carrying a virulent communicable disease.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) works closely with all the agencies responsible for supporting travellers at the United Kingdom’s borders, including airline operators, Port Health officials and the UK Border Force.   Established and well-tested procedures are in place to ensure that any traveller exhibiting illness during travel can be assessed and given appropriate care.   In view of the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa PHE issued additional specific guidance to Border Staff to reinforce knowledge of these procedures.

Obesity

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spends on (a) bariatric surgery for obesity and (b) lifestyle intervention programmes.

Jane Ellison: Information about National Health Service spending on bariatric surgery is available from reference costs, which are the average cost to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts for providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients. Reference costs for acute care are collected by Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume common levels of healthcare resource. The HRGs in the attached table are specific to bariatric surgery. Estimated cost of bariatric surgery to NHS providers in England by HRG, 2012-13Total cost (£ million)FZ84ZStomach Bypass Procedures for Obesity16.6FZ85ZRestrictive Stomach Procedures for Obesity8.4FZ86ZEndoscopic Insertion of Gastric Balloon for Obesity0.4 Total estimated cost25.3 Source: Reference costs, Department of Health   Notes: Data includes the cost of procedures performed in day case, ordinary elective, non-elective and outpatient settings. Other costs outside of these settings are not included.   We have given local authorities a budget of £8.2 billion over three years to help them manage public health issues including lifestyle intervention programmes including NHS Health Checks and the National Child Measurement Programme.   In addition, Public Health England runs a range of well-known marketing programmes such as Change4Life, Smokefree, Be Clear on Cancer and, most recently, Dementia Friends. These deliver positive health outcomes, such as reducing adult smoking prevalence and increasing early diagnosis of cancer. These marketing programmes utilise behavioural science, commercial best practice and digital tools to engage hundreds of thousands of people. The total core marketing budget for 2014-2015 is £53 million.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to commission a prevalence study of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and foetal alcohol syndrome in England.

Jane Ellison: We understand that the World Health Organization intends to undertake a prevalence study on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in a number of countries.   The feasibility of estimating prevalence is not yet fully clear, given uncertainties around diagnostic criteria for a number of conditions included within FASD. Studies internationally vary in methods and in how they address diagnostic issues.   We intend to follow this study with interest and believe it would be prudent to await developments in this study, before considering any further prevalence work.

Alcoholic Drinks: Labelling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the final independent market survey on compliance with the Government's Responsibility Deal pledge on alcohol labelling to be published.

Jane Ellison: As part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, alcohol retailers and producers have committed to putting on clear unit content, National Health Service guidelines and an agreed warning or a pregnancy warning logo on 80% of labels on bottles and cans by the end of 2013.   Subject to publication of the final independent market survey, we believe that just under 80% of bottles and cans had that information.

Cancer

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the National Peer Review Programme for Cancer has been suspended.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is currently reviewing the National Cancer Peer Review programme with a view to considering how its success might be extended into other new areas of specialised commissioning. Regardless of the outcome of this review, cancer peer review will continue to play a critical part of any broader peer review programme that the NHS may look to introduce.

Dementia: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in Ashfield constituency have been diagnosed with dementia in each of the last 10 years.

Norman Lamb: Information is not available in the format requested. The number of people on the dementia register is available. This is a measure of prevalence rather than incidence.   The number of people recorded on practice disease registers is taken from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.   Dementia was included on the QOF register in 2006-07, and the following table shows all the available data for NHS Mansfield and Ashfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS Nottingham North and East CCG, NHS Nottingham West CCG and for the Nottinghamshire County Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) (formerly known as the Nottinghamshire County PCT).   Number of patients on the (QOF) dementia register for NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG, NHS Nottingham and East CCG, NHS Nottingham West CCG and Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT  PracticesList SizeDementia register counts2013-14NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG31186,1071,417NHS Nottingham North and East CCG21147,2121,099NHS Nottingham West CCG1294,0599272012/13NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG31184,6221,244NHS Nottingham North and East CCG21145,2921,000NHS Nottingham West CCG1293,642823Nottinghamshire County PCT/Nottinghamshire County Teaching PCT2011-1295671,7324,1042010-1196668,3903,7112009-1095664,4653,3142008-0996662,0033,0732007-0896658,9002,9022006-0796649,2172,797 Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre   Notes:  1. Practices, Practice List sizes and Number of patients on Dementia Register are based only on those general practitioner practices that participated in QOF.   2. Information for 2013-14 is based only on those practices that participated in QOF in both 2012-13 and 2013-14. Therefore, 2013-14 figures are provisional and are subject to change once the full QOF is published 28 October 2014.

Obesity: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) men and (b) women in Ashfield constituency were classed as (i) overweight and (ii) obese in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Data on adult obesity and excess weight (overweight and obese) for Ashfield district are available from the ‘Local Health Profiles’ using data from the ‘Active People Survey’ commissioned by Sport England. The data are only available for 2012 and data on adult obesity is not collected by parliamentary constituency. The following data are for the area of Ashfield district. Trend data at this geography are not available.   Excess weight defined as the proportion of the adult population who are overweight or obese for Ashfield district in 2012, was 69.6%. (The rate for England of is 63.8%.)   The proportion of the adult population in Ashfield district classified as obese in 2012 was 28.2%. (The rate for England of is 23.0%.)   This data is not available in a gender-specific format.

Obesity: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in Ashfield constituency were classed as (a) overweight and (b) obese in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: Data on childhood obesity are not collected by parliamentary constituency. The following data are for the area of Ashfield district. The National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) data collection began in 2006/07 and only collects data on two age groups; reception year (4-5 years) and year 6 (10-11 years).Reception Year (4-5 years)Year 6 (10-11 years) Prevalence of obesityPrevalence of overweight (including obese)Prevalence of obesityPrevalence of overweight (including obese) Children%Children%Children%Children%2006/07979.823623.921119.936734.62007/08999.725825.321819.038133.22008/0910110.023022.722120.836334.12009/10988.826323.720818.238934.02010/111019.121819.717917.633432.82011/12948.122719.619018.433532.42012/131058.826722.319718.832531.0   Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, National Childhood Measurement Programme.

Dementia

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to support people living with dementia in the (a) community and (b) care system.

Norman Lamb: Dementia is a key priority for this Government and we are committed to ensuring people with dementia and their carers receive the best possible care in all care settings. That is why in 2012 we launched the first ever Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia to increase diagnosis rates, raise awareness and understanding and double funding for research in dementia by 2015.   Recently a number of steps have been taken to support people living with dementia in the community and in the care system including:   - We are aiming for 75 dementia-friendly communities by March 2015. 70 communities across England have signed up to the national Dementia Friendly Communities recognition process, with an increased ambition to reach 75 by March 2015.   - In the hospital setting, through the Dementia Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) reward (introduced from April 2012), with around 4,000 referrals a month, it is clear that more people with dementia in hospitals are being identified and assessed. Between April 2013 and June 2014 there have been 59,961 referrals as a result of the introduction of this CQUIN goal.   - We have made available £50 million capital funding for 2013-14 for the NHS and local authorities to work with providers to create better care environments to help people with dementia live well with the condition. The projects are now in the process of being evaluated and we will disseminate the key recommendations by the end of the year.   - On 1 April 2014 we put in place a new Dementia Directed Enhanced Service, which has had over 80% take up by general practitioners (GPs) to reward practices for facilitating timely diagnosis and support for people with dementia.   - The Government’s refreshed Mandate to Health Education England, published on 1 May 2014, builds on the existing ambition to have 100,000 NHS staff receive Tier 1 training on dementia by setting an ambition for a further 250,000 NHS staff to receive Tier 1 training on dementia by March 2015, with the tools and training opportunities being made available to all staff by the end of 2018.   - Over 200,000 NHS staff have already received foundation level training with a cumulative target of 359,000 to have completed dementia awareness training by March 2015.   - On 7 May 2014 Public Health England and the Alzheimer’s Society launched a major new campaign with the aim of securing one million people to become dementia friends by March 2015. The campaign is aimed at improving understanding and attitudes about dementia and towards people with the condition. There are currently over 520,000 Dementia Friends.   - On 10 September 2014 NHS England published a new Dementia Toolkit aimed at helping GPs making a more timely diagnosis and what they can do in terms of vital post-diagnostic support.   - On 3 October 2014 NHS England announced that £5 million will be made available to fund an additional enhanced service for GPs to run between October 2014 and March 2015 to drive improvements in dementia diagnosis.

NHS: Pay

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost would be of awarding all NHS staff the annual increment plus a one per cent pay rise; and what the actual cost is of the Government's current proposals on pay for NHS staff.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Government has had to make difficult decisions this year on pay but staff will be receiving an award worth at least 1% either through annual incremental progression or a non-consolidated payment for those at the top of the payscales.   Just over half of Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) staff would be expected to receive incremental pay progression worth an average of around 3.5%. This is estimated to cost nearly £800 million, or around 1.75% of paybill, in 2014-15. Some of this cost would be expected to be offset by the net effects of joiners and leavers on the mix of staff across incremental pay points, but it remains the case that paybill pressures would be nearly £800 million lower without incremental progression.   For 2014-15, the cost of the Pay Review Bodies’ recommendations of a 1% pay uplift for all HCHS staff would have been around £450 million, or 1% of paybill. By contrast, the headline cost of non-consolidated awards worth 1% of basic pay for those at the top of their pay band, as actually awarded, is estimated at around £150 million, or around 0.35% of paybill.   The Government is committed to a National Health Service that provides safe, compassionate care. The choice we faced was either to invest more in pay or to protect the front line; we cannot afford to do both. The Government believes the decision to protect the front line, whilst a difficult decision to make, was the correct one.

Older People: Loneliness

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to tackle loneliness in elderly people and the adverse health effects of chronic isolation.

Norman Lamb: The Department is raising awareness regarding the issue of loneliness and social isolation and helping local health and wellbeing boards and commissioners to get better at measuring the issue in their local communities. This will help them come up with the right targeted solutions, and drive local improvements that really make a difference.   A measure of social isolation has now been included in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2013-14 for the first time, marking an important step towards improving the lives of social care users and carers that are experiencing isolation. This measure provides a clear focus for local priority setting, enabling local authorities to determine the scale of the problem in their area.

Older People: Loneliness

Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had on tackling loneliness and social isolation in elderly people with (i) charities, (ii) professional bodies and (iii) other government departments in each of the last three years.

Norman Lamb: I have met with a number of organisations over the past three years to specifically discuss the issue of loneliness and social isolation. These organisations have included The Campaign to End Loneliness, Silverline, Royal Voluntary Service and Citizens UK.   During this period, I have also met with Ministers from Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions to discuss loneliness and social isolation.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women experiencing perinatal mental illness have been accommodated on adult psychiatric wards in each of the last four years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The term ’perinatal mental illness’ is not classifiable within the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) classification system used to identify diagnoses in the Hospital Episode Statistics database.

Continuing Care

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in England who received NHS continuing healthcare through the fast-track route in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013; what plans he has to gather more comprehensive data on the use of NHS continuing healthcare; and if he will make a statement.

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether an assessment has been carried out on the effectiveness of the fast-track route for Continuing Healthcare in providing support to terminally ill people; and what discussions he has had with NHS England on working with his Department to ensure people eligible for Continuing Healthcare through the fast-track route receive it promptly.

Norman Lamb: The principles and processes for assessment of Fast-Track eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare are set out in the ‘National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care’.   Whilst the Department has not undertaken a specific assessment of the effectiveness of the Fast Track Tool for NHS Continuing Healthcare we have recently worked closely with NHS England and other key stakeholders in developing an Assurance Framework. The aim of the Assurance Framework is to ensure compliance with the National Framework and was launched in draft earlier this year. Further work is being undertaken to refine this prior to final publication.   The Department does not collect data regarding the number of people who have been assessed as eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) via use of the Fast Track tool.   Since 1 April 2013 data on the number of people who are eligible for NHS CHC has been published quarterly at:   http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?q=continuing+healthcare&go=Go&area=both

Prescription Drugs

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will commission a review of the innovation, evaluation and adoption of new medicines in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: We are committed to ensuring National Health Service patients have access to effective medicines on terms that represent value to the NHS and taxpayers and that patients, are supported to get the best outcomes from their medicines.   The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has recently commissioned an independent evaluation of Innovation Health and Wealth. Jointly led by the University of Manchester and RAND Europe, The first initial phase is now underway, the study is expected to take three years to complete.   In addition, NHS England, with the Health and Social Care Information Centre publishes an innovation scorecard which represents the rate of uptake and utility of medicines in both primary and secondary care, on a regular basis. This publication sets out levels of uptake and utility for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraised medicines and technologies, and evidence suggests that steady growth is being achieved and the most recent information is available at:   www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=15598&q=innovation+scorecard&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1#top   Earlier this year, NHS England also undertook an extensive consultation to ‘refresh’ the Innovation Health and Wealth policy framework and we understand that recommendations from this will be included in NHS England's five year Forward Look.

Social Services

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department will publish a response to the consultation Updating our care and support system: draft regulations and guidance, published on 6 June 2014.

Norman Lamb: A consultation on the draft regulations and guidance to support implementation of part one of the Care Act 2014 opened on 5 June 2014 and ran for 10 weeks to 15 August 2014.   The Government will publish a response to the consultation shortly. The statutory guidance to support implementation of part one of the Care Act will be published at the same time.

Mental Health Services

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is for treatment by adult mental health services for people who have suffered sexual abuse.

Norman Lamb: The information is not collected centrally. Earlier this month the Department published Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020, which articulates our ambition and the immediate actions we will take this year and next to achieve better access and waiting times for mental health services for all patients.   We have identified £40 million additional spending to kick start change in the current year and a further £80 million to be freed up for 2015-16. This will, for the first time ever, enable the setting of access and waiting time standards in mental health services.

Health Professions: Training

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much non-NHS providers of NHS funded services have paid to the Treasury towards the cost of the previous training of clinical staff whom they employ in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Non-NHS providers do not make a direct contribution to the cost of training clinical staff.

Cancer

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his future policy towards the National Cancer Peer Review programme is.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is currently reviewing the National Cancer Peer Review programme with a view to considering how its success might be extended into other new areas of specialised commissioning. Regardless of the outcome of this review, cancer peer review will continue to play a critical part of any broader peer review programme that the NHS may look to introduce.

General Dental Council

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations his Department has received on the General Dental Council's annual retention fee.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Since 1 July 2014, the Department has received a number of representations regarding the General Dental Council’s (GDC) proposed increase to the annual retention fee. As at 22 October 2014, these representations included seven items of correspondence: one from the Chair of the GDC, one from the British Dental Association and five from Members of Parliament. The Department has received three related Parliamentary Questions and has responded to an e-petition opposing an increase in the GDC’s annual retention fee.   On 3 September 2014, I met with the GDC where, amongst other things, concerns about the proposal fee rise were discussed.

Hearing Impairment: Babies

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken in respect of paediatric audiology services which do not meet the standards set out in the quality assurance newborn hearing screening programme.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Between September 2012 and March 2013 the NHS Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP) provided each individual hearing screening programme with an individual detailed quality assurance (QA) report and action plan. These QA reports are available directly from the screening programmes or via the NHSP website at   http://hearing.screening.nhs.uk/qualityassurance   It is up to local NHS paediatric services as to how they implement these action plans.

Hepatitis: Drugs

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spent on medicines for hepatitis C treatment in each of the last three financial years.

George Freeman: Information on spend by the National Health Service in primary and secondary care is in the table.   Medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C have been defined as all medicines contained within British National Formulary section 5.3.3.4 - chronic hepatitis C. In addition, peginterferon alfa, ribavirin and interferon alfa have also been included as they have been recommended in National Institute for Health and Care excellence technology appraisals for use in treating hepatitis C.   Since some drugs are prescribed to treat more than one condition, it may not be possible to separate the different conditions for which a drug may have been prescribed and therefore figures may include costs from prescriptions of these drugs other than for hepatitis C.   This is the cost of the medicines at NHS list price and not necessarily the price paid. It does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income. Financial YearCost (£000)2011-1234,198.92012-1352,709.22013-1472,122.0 Source:  Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (primary care) Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index (HPAI) provided by IMS Health (secondary care)

Liver Diseases

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with (a) Public Health England and (b) NHS England on the development of a liver strategy or liver framework; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) has a wide ranging programme designed to tackle the rising mortality and morbidity from liver disease. At each stage officials at the Department are in discussion with PHE.   In response to the All Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group report PHE has committed to producing a Liver Disease Framework. This will focus on public health action to tackle risk factors for liver disease and inequalities in relation to liver disease. Work has already begun to bring together expertise within PHE on the major risk factors for liver disease (alcohol, hepatitis B and C and obesity), data on liver disease and its risk factors and on death and dying from liver disease. Many of the actions to tackle the major risk factors require a coordinated approach between PHE and NHS England.   A meeting will be held on 25 November between PHE officials, NHS England officials, Departmental officials and representatives of Charities to outline the emerging framework and to seek comment and advice. The Lead for Liver Disease at PHE is working closely with the National Clinical Director for Gastroenterology. The Department is kept informed of PHE’s work programme on liver disease through discussion and communication.

Pregnancy: Mental Illness

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women in the perinatal period have (a) attempted suicide and (b) taken their own lives in each of the last four years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: This information is not collected centrally.

Dialysis Machines

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons his Department has proposed a reduction in tariffs for kidney dialysis.

Jane Ellison: Monitor and NHS England published the National tariff Payment System Engagement Documents on 15 July, which also included indicative draft prices for 2015-16. While some draft prices proposed for 2015-16 were higher than the previous year, there were also reductions in prices. Following consultation with commissioners, providers, clinicians and service users, the best practice tariff for renal care is being reviewed. Final prices will be published alongside the 2015-16 National tariff Payment System Consultation Notice later this year.

Fibromyalgia

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve support for people with fibromyalgia; and what plans he has to educate the public about that condition.

Norman Lamb: Although there is no cure for fibromyalgia, some treatments can ease symptoms and support improved quality of life for patients. The treatments offered will depend on the severity of a patient’s condition, but may include: pharmacological pain relief; physiotherapy; dietary and exercise advice; counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy; and self-management programmes which aim to give patients the skills and confidence to manage their conditions more effectively. There are also a number of National Health Service trusts that offer specialist fibromyalgia clinics, such the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath, which patients can access on referral from the clinician responsible for their care.   We know that early diagnosis is the key to improving outcomes across many conditions. Detailed information about fibromyalgia, including symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options, suitable for newly diagnosed patients, is available on the NHS Choices website at www.nhs.uk

Hearing Impairment: Children

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking in respect of audiology services that have not been accredited to provide paediatric audiology services under the Improving Quality in Physiological Services programme.

Dr Daniel Poulter: NHS England have stated that the Improving Quality in Physiological Services programme run jointly by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and Royal College of Physicians is raising the profile of accreditation schemes for physiological diagnostic services. A mapping exercise is underway to identify those services which are accredited or working towards accreditation which is an integral improvement step on the pathway to full accreditation. To date, audiology services are making good progress towards accreditation.